The Memphis appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1886-1890, 1887-04-03

Z APPEAL--.SUNDAl
morally or financially, any more.
Business men understand that, IN .
small town or city, everybody who
has anything to sell is directly .benc-
flied by the circus. 1t draws the
country people into town and stimu-
lates the circulation Of money. A
fair share of the cash taken at the
tent goes directly back into the
pockets OF the townspeople. Some
times the officials try TO bleed the
circus by charging an enormous Ii
cense fee. but that does not pay.
The city OF Holyoke, Mass, one year,
raised the circus license from Sl5O to
$500 as soon as Barnum announced
that he would show there.
The result was that Barnum
changed his arrangements and
pitched his tents in Ohicopee, few
miles away. The HOlyoke business
men made great fuss, and the next |
year Holyoke notified Barnum that |
thu license fee had been reduced to
the old figures. There is a good
side TO the circus business when you
come to know all about it, and there
are some redeeming features that the
public never heard of. Two or
three years, ago, when | was laying
out the line Of march for the New
York street parade, Barnum re-
ceived letter from gentleman un-
known to him, in which the writer
said his little boy was i'll and could
not 60 to see the parade or attend
the per torrance, but was anxious to
see the procession, and he wanted to
know if the procession passed his
house. Mr.. Barnum gave me the letter
and we changed the line OF march
three or four blocks from the origi
nal route in order to give that sick
boy chance to see the parade from
the window. Mr.. Hutchinson once
got letter from a little fellow who
said he wanted to go to the circus but
his aunt, with whom he lived, was
too poor to afford the expense of q
ticket. A ticket was sent to him at
once. 1t was a small matter to the
management, but it made one
youngster happy. The circus men
are not such bad fellows when you
once come to know them"
Germans are not always quick to
adopt the manners and customs of
the country in which they happen to
live, aud therefore it is all the more
surprising when one of them comes
to the front as an imitator of Ameri-
can fashions. Ada Bergen, young
and handsome actress OF the Thalia
Theater, read of the horsewhipping
of theater manager, and determin-
ed to CRAFTY her own thirst for no.
toriety. The Thalia is the only Ger
man playhouse which New York
supports. 1t is at the lower end of
the Bowery, and has large company
| annually recruited in Europe. The
manager visits Berlin and Vienna
every year and returns with a cargo
of actors, a score or more of frauleiDs
all buxom and some pretty, and fat
woman, who is an indispensable ele-
meut in German comedies. The act
ress chosen for that post is usually
SO hard worked that the end of the
season finds her worn to shadow
that is, a fat woman's shadow-and
shorn Of all merit as mirth Great or.
Thenshe goes home to fatten Tor
the ensuing year. The buxom
fraulelns are q source OF
constant anxiety. The Thalia sea-
son always begins with full assort-
ment of these choice specimens OF
human delicatessen, and great is the
joy of the Teuton bald head as, seated
in his orchestra chair, his eye rests
upon the dimpled cheeks and flxen
hair OF. the imported sirens. Ger
man bald heads have the same weak
nesses as their Anglo Saxon proto-
types, and before long burly shadows
darken the stage door, midnight sup
pers are given at the quaint old res
taurant over the way, and then the
rumor is echoed through the ITALIA
that Fraulein Pretzel has caught
on" The matter is freely discussed
in the green room, an institution
which still exists in the Thalia; it i:
gravely commented upon in the prop.
erty room, where the master carpen.
ter, master scene painter and other
dignitaries OF the stage are wont tC
gather for social relaxation; the ru
NOR is heard by the kappelm eister
and by him conveyed to the manager
who exclaims; Already? l thought
she would last ms at least two
months" tdoes not take long foI
such an affair to find its way int
print. Not that the New York dai
lies take any notice of it; and j
they did the German players would
never hear OF it; but it is published
in one of the little weekly Zeitung
printed in New York, and who's,
columns are largely given up to thu
} gossip of the local German stage. A
ten-line paragraph in the Sndo,
! Zueibicr shakes the Thalia stage t.
its very foundations. So it happened
that when the report went abroaC
that Ada Bergen had caught on
J and that the catchee was none othe
than we'll known German American
of imposing presence and liberia
: purse, the reporter of one of the Zeit
, lungs ventured to give limited de
gree of publicity TO the TACT in par
r agraph in which he gracefully com
plimented the young actress on tn
! adroitness with which she had en-
7 shared her prey. Then it was tina
, Ada took the law in her own double,
/ fists and assaulted the gossiper as h
: sat at a table in restaurant.
, OMAR JAMES.